Quick Links

Q &A Slender have no problem with bulky parts like Victorian newel posts or balusters, slender chair spindles and other small parts give me fits. Turning them between centers in the usual way provides too little support, and the parts tend to vibrate and break under the force of a cutting tool. I realize that many of the parts I'm asked to duplicate were produced on automatic lathes; nevertheless, there must be some freehand techniques for controlling small-diameter work. turn湱䙸 -Paul Mahany, Bethesda, Md. RICHARD STARR REPUES: Slender turnings flex in twO waysthey bend and they twist. Bending occurs when you push the tool against the wood, and rather than surrendering a shaving, the wood resists and tries to climb the tool's edge. At best, you get a chatrering, interrnitrent cut. At worst, you break the piece. Twist occurs as you work a thin turning some distance from the driven end. The wood resists the tool and winds up like a spring which then releases and overcomes the tool. The result is spiral-shaped chatter marks. To keep the wood from bending, some turners use a steady rest-a mechanism that clamps to the lathe ways and supportS the wood near where the tool is cutting. The drawing at right shows one design for a steady, taken from F. Pain's Wedge weighted with lead pivots The Practical Wood Turner (Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. , 2 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016), which, by the way, is an excellent reference book on turning. I've used rests but prefer to use my hand to steady the work. I hold the tool with my right hand, so I place my left thumb on the top surface of the tool, curling my fingers around the work and supponing it against bending as I cut. Friction heats the hand, which is why old-tim- rest against work gs-l do custom woodturning, and while I spindles clamped in a shaving horse is a good and surprisingly fast solution. But if you've gOt lots to turn, I'd suggest looking for what's called a hand lathe. It's a regular lathe fitted with a steady rest in which a cutter is mounted. A lever allows the operator to move the steady into the spinning work, thus cutting <:U1d supporting it simultaneously. Hand lathes can be set up with duplicating templates that produce the same profile time after time. Before the automatic back-knife lathe came into use, hand lathes were the only machine that could make thin turnings-a good operator could produce a thousand pieces a day. I'm not sure that the type of hand lathes we used are still made, but you might be able to find a used one. Check with James F. Murphy Co. Inc., 86 Cambridge St., Burlington, Mass. 01803. This company also sells adjustable ball-bearing steady rests that might help. Clock acoustics-l have a commission to build a mantletype wooden clock case. I've listened to several chime clocks and they sound like an orchestra playing with jackets over their instruments. What can I do to make my clock produce a resonant, delightful sound? -Roger G. Joshua Sherman, Baltimore, Md. ANDY MARLOW REPUES: If you are working to a fixed clock design, you can't change the shape of the clock's sound chamber much, and you would have to change it quite a bit to make much difference anyway. Rods or gongs mounted on hardwood will produce more volume but a harsher sound; softwood, a softer and more pleasing note. I'd experiment with the material on the striking surface of the hammers. They are usually faced with a hard leather button. You'll get a surprising variation in sound quality by using a softer leather such as chamois or a piece of kid glove. Don't forget to drill holes in the clock back to let the sound out. . ' Pivot ers pause often to cool the palm on the lathe's pulley housing. Keep your tool sharp and take fine cuts to keep cutting resistance-and twisting-low. For cylindrical and tapered turnings, limit twisting by using a hand plane instead of a turning tool. You can control the plane's depth of cut and there's no danger of digging in. Try a block plane with a sharp iron set for a fine cut. Steady the tool as shown in the photo, with the edge of the blade swung at least 450 to the axis of the work. Travel slowly along the work in the direction the plane is pointing. On very long pieces, you can reduce twisting by reversing and rechucking, so you are always working the half nearest the headstock. If you've gOt a 3- or 4-jaw chuck that's hollow in the center, you could just project the work through it, extending the turning and moving the tailstock as you go. Keep the lathe speed low, because a thin, flexible piece could whip off the lathe if run toO fast. R. PERRY MERCURIO REPUES: If the quantities required are small enough, the old-time method of spokeshaving thin 28 Vibrating bandsaw-l built a I2-in. bandsaw from a Gilliom kit and I used oak plywood for the wheels. The machine runs and cuts well, but there is a slight vibration which I think comes from the tires being of uneven thickness. How can I grind the tires flat and even? RICH PREISS REPUES: Bumps or bulges in the tire could be caused by the wrong size tire, crud that gOt under the tire during installation, or a joint that isn't smooth. To find the high sPOtS, rotate the wheel by hand and read the runout with a dial indicator, or clamp a block in a fixed position on the saw frame and see if the rotating wheel contacts it evenly. Try spot-sanding with coarse sandpaper to knock down the -TT Plywood base high spots. If this doesn't work, use the belt-sander jig shown in the drawing below to bring the tire into round. Recrown Ormiston, Outlook, Sask. Bandsaw wheel mounted on bolt axles the tire by hand-sanding or by mounting the belt sander on a beveled block, othetwise the blade won't track correctly. If the vibration persists, the wheels themselves may be out of round or twisted. Remove the tires and true the wheels on Drawings: Karen Pease